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From the Desk of Bill Cirone...
May 28, 1999
County students do well on mid-year Golden State Exams
County public schools received their most recent good news in the form of the Golden State Exams that were taken this past winter. Congratulations go to the Santa Barbara County students who received 849 merit rankings on the mid-year Golden State Exams in the areas of high school math, economics, government/civics, reading/literature, and written composition.
The rigorous annual state tests were crafted as an incentive and recognition program for students, and they are a credit to individual student achievement. Statewide, more than 2, 640 graduating seniors were awarded the Golden State Diploma in 1998, having received a merit ranking on six designated Golden State Exams during their school career. That figure is up from 1,000 the year before.
Different schools and districts have varying policies regarding which students take the tests. Some invite all students in a given course to try the exam, and others ask only their high achievers to do so. For this reason, school-by-school and district-by-district comparisons simply do not apply.
Students who do well on the exam qualify for one of three merit rankings: school recognition, honors, or high honors. Countywide, more than 56 percent of all students who took all the exams earned one of the three merit rankings.
Students taking the written composition exam scored the best on this round of tests, with an impressive 65 percent receiving a merit ranking. Of the 435 students who took the reading/literature exam, 255&emdash;or some 59 percent&emdash;earned recognition. Economics was the next highest area, with 51 percent of the students earning recognition. High school math and government/civics performance was very close. In the math test, 45.5 percent of those who took the exam earned a merit rating, and in government/civics, 44 percent did so.
These are very rigorous exams, and the students who performed well on them should be extremely proud of their achievements. We often talk about the increased pressures on students at the end of this century: an advertising and entertainment industry that stresses instant gratification without consequences; peer pressure to experiment with drugs, weapons, and mature relationships; restricted resources at the school site that often translates into fewer counselors and larger class sizes; different family shapes, sizes, and situations, just to name a few of the changing and sometimes difficult situations confronting young people.
In the face of these pressures, high academic achievements on 849 exams is no small feat, and I am certain I join parents, teachers, neighbors and friends in extending hearty congratulations to those who accomplished these successes.
© Santa Barbara County Education Office
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